Issue Nov 6th 2024  November 6th 2024

Frank Lloyd Wright In Springfield, One Of Ohio’s Best Small Towns

Springfield, Ohio, used to be a manufacturing hub, particularly for agricultural equipment, which is what brought Burton Westcott, treasurer for American Seeding Machine Co., and his wife Orpha, to town in the early 1900s.

Suzanne Cavazos, tour guide, said it’s not clear why the Westcotts hired Wright to design their house, although an article by Wright, “A Home in a Prairie Town,” in a 1901 edition of Ladies Home Journal might have provided inspiration. A copy of the magazine sits on a table in the library of the Westcott home.

“I like to think that maybe Mrs. Westcott was thumbing through the magazine and decided, ‘I want this house,’ " said Cavazos.

The Westcotts lived in the 4,000-square-foot home until 1926, when it passed through several owners. In the mid-1940s, it was divided into apartments and eventually fell into a state of significant disrepair.

Then, in the early 2000s, the Frank Lloyd Wright Conservancy stepped in and, along with the Westcott House Foundation, helped lead a $5.8 million conservation effort. The house opened for tours in 2005.

Tours start in the original garage, now a gift shop, which was one of the first garages in Springfield.

From the garage, tours travel throughout the house – into the library, living room, dining room, children’s playroom and kitchen on the first floor, plus six bedrooms on the second.

Signature Prairie-style features are prevalent throughout, including wraparound windows showcasing garden views, horizontal lines, geometric patterns, low furniture and cantilevered rooflines.

Even the outside space reflects Wright’s desires. “He felt the garden design was as important as the house,” said Cavazos. “He even decided where the trees went.”

The house was built between two of Wright’s most famous residential works – the Darwin Martin House in Buffalo, finished in 1905, and the Frederick Robie House in Chicago, completed in 1910.

The three houses together, said Cavazos, offer a terrific primer of Wright’s Prairie style.

Tour information: Access to the house is by guided tour only; admission is $20. Information: westcotthouse.org

Click for more details: cleveland.com  

All Lit Up Like A Japanese Lantern: The Japanese Aesthetic In Frank Lloyd Wright

By 1941, the year Pope-Leighey House was completed, Frank Lloyd Wright had studied Japan for almost a half-century. He had become a serious collector of woodblock prints–even writing a book on the subject–and had won acclaim for his design of the Tokyo Imperial Hotel, one of the few buildings to survive the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. On this special tour, visitors will discover how the famous American architect incorporated his love of Japanese art, architecture, and philosophy into Usonian homes, and how this East Asian influence shines in Wright’s Pope-Leighey House.

This tour will be offered November 10 at 12:00 pm and December 10 at 10:00 am.

About the Tour Guide: Kristi Jamrisko Gross is Lead Guide at Woodlawn & Frank Lloyd Wright’s Pope-Leighey House and also works as a museum educator for the Office of Historic Alexandria. She holds an M.A. in Art History from the University of Maryland, where she wrote her thesis on Dutch–Japanese material culture exchange in the 1600s. Prior to graduate school, she taught English in rural Japan through the JET Program and worked as a science and nuclear policy analyst at the Embassy of Japan in Washington, DC.

Click for more details: alxnow.com  

Don Erickson-Designed Barrington Home Sells In One Day

A beautiful MCM house on Cuba Road in Barrington, IL, designed by Taliesin Apprentice Don Erickson and built in 1961, has remained with the same family since 1973 and went on the market following the owner’s recent death was listed at $425,000...and sold in one day.

Set far back from the street, the house is easy to miss when the trees are full. But details including its elevation, three-tier roof and narrow bands of shiny metal around the perimeter of the roofs remind Baird & Warner realtor Lou Zucaro of a spaceship.

Inside, the single-story house is equally dramatic. Though about 2,700 square feet, it has only two bedrooms and 1½ bathrooms. Most of the space he said, is taken up by a “massive” great room filled with natural light where built-in couches and shelves stretch out across white carpet. Two wide steps lead to a conversation pit around the fireplace.

Both the look — and the house’s history — intrigued Zucaro, who specializes in helping people buy and sell midcentury homes. He heard about the house through a friend and later discovered it was designed by his favorite local architect, Don Erickson, a longtime Barrington resident who apprenticed with Frank Lloyd Wright.

The previous owners kept the interior true to its time period. Though the house sustained some damage during a tornado in the mid-’60s, it was rebuilt to match what was there before.

Most of the furniture throughout is built-in, including the “sprawling sofa” in the living room and the bedroom sets, Zucaro said. A couple of tables were custom-made and are staying.

Click for more details: dailyherald.com  

Arizona Could've Had A State Capitol Designed By Frank Lloyd Wright

Arizona Capitol building could've have been one of the most interesting, beautiful and unique capitol buildings in the U.S., courtesy of the famed Frank Lloyd Wright, whose winter home was in the Valley for 25 years.

In 1957, Wright offered an unsolicited proposal for a new capitol complex he titled "Oasis." The ornate proposal would have featured a distinctive, laced canopy with a hexagonal, honeycombed pattern plated in blue, oxidized copper, with a botanical garden and fountains underneath, plus a spire protruding through. The canopy separated hexagonal House and Senate chambers across from each other. The building would've also housed the governor's office and Arizona Supreme Court.

Wright's plans called for Oasis to be at Papago Park, with the reddish mountains as its backdrop.

As the historic Capitol showed its age, state officials planned to build a new one adjacent to the original, copper-domed building. The winning entry from Associated State Capitol Architects was a 20-story, United Nations-style tower. As an homage to classical architecture, then-Arizona Gov. Ernest McFarland insisted a dome be added to the top of the building.

Wright submitted his plan as an alternative to the proposed tower, which he dismissed as an "already dated, New York monstrosity." He felt Oasis personified the "character and beauty" of the state and its landscape. Wright acknowledged his plan had "a mighty slim chance of ever being executed."

Amidst debates over the design, cost and location, and facing a planned petition drive to refer Wright's proposal to the ballot in 1958, the commission tasked with overseeing the construction of a new capitol settled on a compromise, which became the two-wing legislative complex we have today. The State Capitol Executive Tower, where the governor, secretary of state and treasurer have their offices, was constructed in 1974.

Click for more details: msn.com